In the context of a simplification of the Belgian VAT compliance, the Belgian Finance Minister has announced the abolishment of the mandatory monthly advance payments on VAT for quarterly VAT declarants. The Royal Decree will be published shortly and should take effect as from 1 April 2017.
Background
Currently, quarterly VAT declarants are subject to a system of monthly VAT advance payments. This means that every second and third month of each calendar quarter, quarterly VAT declarants must pay an advance of 1/3 of the VAT due resulting from the previous quarterly VAT return. Non payment or late payment of these advance payments is penalised by a late payment interest of 0,8% per month.
Impact
In a recent press release (click link for Dutch or French version), the Belgian Minister of Finance has announced that the monthly advance payments for quarterly VAT declarants will be abolished as from 1 April 2017, in other words after filing of the quarterly VAT return for Q1 2017.
Instead, quarterly declarants will be required by 24 December of each calendar year to pay an advance on the tax payable on its operations for the fourth quarter of the same year. This December VAT advance payment already exists for monthly declarants.
The new regime is not yet final and must still be published in a Royal Decree, but if all goes as planned, quarterly VAT declarants will only have to make maximum 5 VAT payment per calendar year.
We will update as soon as the Royal Decree confirming the new regime is published. In case you have further questions on this topic, please contact us.
